1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems that provide information to customers over telephone networks.
2. Description of Related Art
Occasionally, telephone customers attempt to call other customers only to encounter a busy signal. Depending on the nature of the call, the calling party may want to know if the line of the called party is in actual use and/or possibly interrupt any ongoing conversation on the called line.
Busy Line Validation (BLV) is a service that a calling party can use to verify that a phone-line is currently being used for voice conversation, as opposed to being disabled, accidentally off-hook (miscradled) or used for a modem/facsimile communication. If the called party is in the middle of another call, an operator can hear a garbled form of any ongoing activity on the called line, interpret the type of call based on the ongoing activity and inform the calling party of the status of the called party's line.
Emergency Interrupt (EI) is a service that can allow a calling party to interrupt an ongoing voice conversation of a called party. Assuming that the operator has determined that a called line is used for a voice conversation, the operator can establish a communication bridge with the called party, advise the called party of the interrupt request and, if the called party consents, allow the calling party to break into the called party's ongoing conversation.
Unfortunately, because existing BLV services rely on a human operator's judgment of garbled signals, a data or facsimile call may be easily misinterpreted as ongoing voice conversation, or a voice conversation can be mistaken for a malfunctioning or off-hook line. Additionally, due to the human operator's involvement, BLV and EI can be unduly expensive services. Thus, new technologies relating to BLV and EI services are desirable.